States and Absolutism
OVERVIEW
Early modern Europe is often associated with its monarchs, from Henry VIII in England and Ireland, to Louis XIV in France, to Catherine the Great in Russia. Monarchy, or rule by one person, was the norm across much of Europe and beyond. There was a trend towards stronger or more 'absolute' monarchs, exemplified by the reign of Louis XIV from 1643 to 1715, so much so that the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries have sometimes been called the Age of Absolutism. But there were other forms of government in the same period, such as composite monarchies, city-states, and republics. Even absolute monarchs had to negotiate with other powers, from guilds to bishops to parliaments. Monarchs often claimed to resolve crises by unifying their territories, yet the competition for territory between monarchs let to new conflicts. The lecture introduces absolute monarchs and places them in the wider context of early modern government.
The seminar looks at a private letter written by Louis XIV to his son, also called Louis and known as the Dauphin. This was one of several letters that the king wrote to his son with a view to preparing him for kingship. This was not unusual in the early modern period. Louis' letter was part of a long tradition of 'mirrors for princes', texts designed to advise kings, queens and other rulers on how to rule. The letters to the Dauphin are one of the best guides to Louis XIV's conception of monarchy, but like any source they need to be taken with several pinches of salt.
ESSENTIAL READING
Butters, Humfrey. ‘The Theory and Practice of Politics and Government 1500-1800.’ In Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World, 1500-1800: An Introduction to Early Modern History, 4th edn. (2022).
'Memoir for the year 1661'. In Louis XIV, A King's Lessons in Statecraft: Louis XIV, Letters to his Heirs. Trans. Herbert Wilson, ed. Jean Longnon (Port Washington, NY, 1970), pp. 39-59.
Jean Longnon, 'Introduction,' in Louis XIV, trans. Wilson, ed. Longnon, pp. 7-33 (the text after p. 24 is optional)
PRIMARY-SOURCE QUESTIONS
- what did the ideal monarch look like, according to Louis XIV?
- how far was Louis' vision of monarchy an 'absolutist' vision?
- what are the strengths and limits of this source as a window onto Louis XIV's ideas (Longnon's 'Introduction' will help here)?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
- was Louis XIV a typical or atypical ruler in early modern Europe?
- what if anything was 'modern' about early modern states?
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RECOMMENDED READING
Burke, Peter, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992), chapter 12 ‘Louis in perspective’, which compares Louis with other rulers. There is a short version of the book’s wider argument in History Today Volume 42 Issue 2 February 1992Link opens in a new window.
Henshall, N., The Myth of Absolutism (1992), scan of ch 2. ‘Louis XIV Reassessed. The book’s overall argument is summarised in History Today 42 (1992)
Elliott, J.H., ‘A Europe of composite monarchies’, P&P 137 (1992) – this article explores how many monarchs ruled over more than one territory and that these were often diverse and dispersed.
Cardim, P., T. Herzog, J. J. Ruiz Ibáñez, G. Sabatini (eds), Polycentric Monarchies: How Did Early Modern Spain & Portugal Achieve & Maintain a Global Hegemony? (2014) (ebook) This pursues this idea further, examining the global impact of such composite or polycentric monarchies.
Hindle, S., and B. Kümin, ‘Centre and Periphery’ in Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World (3rd ed, 2018), 359-67. This explores where power was located in early modern Europe.
Skinner, Q., 'A genealogy of the modern state', Proceedings of the British Academy, 162 (2009), pp. 325–370. This traces the origins of the idea (and term) of a state and explains how the concept changed over time.
FURTHER READING
Anderson, M.S., The Origins of the Modern European State System 1494-1618 (1998), scan of ch. 2 ‘The Instruments of International Relations: Trade and Finance’
Black, J., Kings, nobles and commoners: States and Societies in Early Modern Europe (2004) (ebook)
Black, J., The Rise of the European Powers 1679-1793 (1990), scan of ch. 4 ‘Practice and Theory in Ancien Regime International Relations’ This examines the clashes between European nations into the eighteenth century.
Bonney, R., The European Dynastic States 1494-1660 (1991), scans of ch. 4 ‘The Struggle for European Hegemony, 1618-1660’ and ‘Conclusion: The European Dynastic States’
Braddick, Michael, State Formation in Early Modern England, 1550-1700 (2000) – ebook
Ellis, S. G., ‘The limits of power: the English crown and the British Isles’ in P. Collinson (ed.), The Sixteenth Century, 1458-1603 (2002)
Miller, J., (ed.), Absolutism in Seventeenth Century Europe (1990)
Fichtner, P. Sutter, The Habsburg Monarchy 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire (2003)
Kennedy, P., The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500-2000 (1989), chs. 2 and 3.
Kirshner, J., et al., ‘The Origins of the State in Italy, 1300-1600‘ Journal of Modern History, 67 (1995)
Melton, J. Van Horn, ‘Absolutism and “modernity” in early modern Central Europe’, German Studies Review 8 (1985)
Wilson, P., Absolutism in Central Europe (2000) (ebook)
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:
French Absolutism - collection of primary sources relating to Louis XIV’s France
The Palace of Versailles - official website relating to palace and park of Versailles, France
BBC Radio 4 Programme ‘Shadow of the Sun King’ Episode 1 and Episode 2
Louis XIV wearing the costume of Apollo as the 'Sun King'
James I’s advice on kingship, in which he says kings are ‘publike persons …set …upon a publike stage, in the sight of all the people’. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/printed-edition-of-king-james-vi-and-is-basilikon-doron-or-the-kings-gift-1603 Click on ‘view the images to open up pdfs of the original text from this 1603 work.
BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time Programme’ ‘The Trial of Charles I’
Portugal in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries - account from Stanley Payne’s A History of Spain and Portugal
The Revolt of the Netherlands - documents relating to the Reformation and the Revolt of the Low Countries, 1555-1609
Absolutism and the Divine Right of Kings - short overview by historian J. P. Sommerville
Russian absolutism - collection of primary sources relating to Peter the Great’s Russia
BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time Programme’ ‘The Building of St Petersburg’
A map of the Habsburg empireLink opens in a new window
There is plenty of primary material on Historical Texts (Anglophone), Bibliothèque Nationale’s digital library Gallica: http://gallica.bnf.fr/